[Nexus Wars] - Changelog and Suggestions

Hi everyone, this is Isospeedrix and I will be creating a community for Nexus Wars and handling suggestions and changelogs. Nexus Wars was created by Lilman, and was one of the most popular maps in SC2 beta. I work with Lilman personally and he has decided to minimize dealing with forums and public affairs in favor of focusing on map design. Lets hope Nexus Wars will continue to thrive in SC2 retail!

I will post all relevant changes in new versions, and update this thread constantly when a new version is out. All suggestions, bugs, balance concerns should be voiced in this thread. I will relay them directly to Lilman and we will work together on improving the map. Thanks everyone!

-Isospeedrix (Isonubdrix)

***** NEWS AND UPDATES *****2/9/11 - Please join chat channel "Nexus Wars" for discussion and arranging games. I'll be in the channel from time to time as well.

2/7/11- Note that Nexus Wars Frenzy is a one lane version of Nexus wars where units permanently do 200% damage. This is a separate map and is not updated as frequently as the main map. However feel free to post bug reports on Frenzy as well.

1/14/11 - Update and future patch plans post on page 79.

1/1/11 - Happy New Year!

12/12/10 - Although Nexus Wars is fairly balanced right now; we're looking at changing the metagame a bit. We're going to slightly increase the offensive power of units in general, while also increasing the relative power of teched units to encourage faster tech as opposed to massing low tier units. Other units may be looked at as well. I decided that despite balance, it is always fun to change the game around to encourage different strategies at different points in time. I apologize for the lack of updates at this time as well; but rest assured, we always have nexus wars under our radar.

10/18/10 - A New version of Nexus Wars has been uploaded; however despite having done no manipulation with game variants, you cannot join the most popular game from "Join custom game" in the popularity list. This is because the recent patches changed how game variant works and the previous Nexus Wars game variant is no longer playable. THE NEW, PLAYABLE VERSION of Nexus Wars will be near the bottom of the list (may need to scroll a few pages), so please join that one. Thank you!

9/23/10 - Hi everyone, at this point we feel that Nexus Wars is fairly balanced; there are no particular units that are glaringly over or underpowered. However, we will continue monitoring the status of the game as well as read all the forum posts for bugs and balance concerns. In the meantime, we are working on new features revolving around skillsets of Isonubdrix when he levels up. The design space for this is very vast, so implementation may take awhile. Thanks!

7/10/10 - I have received requests/complaints that Nexus Wars cannot be ported onto EU/SEA servers. Because the way battle.net is set up, each game is locked to its own region. Unfortunately we have no solution to this yet, so for now Nexus Wars can only be played on US servers. Please let me know here if you have a solution to this.

*****CHANGELOG v 1.53***** 2/6/11Bug Fixes/Features:-Voting has now been removed to reduce the amount of desync and drop occurrences. Default modes are now: Fog of war = on, Income = 15 sec, Supply = 90.

*****CHANGELOG v 1.51***** 2/4/11Bug Fixes/Features:-The long awaited 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, modes has arrived! The creator can now pick 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 mode from the game lobby.

-HOW TO GET A DIFFERENT MODE OF NEXUS WARS:1) By creating a game:--Click "Create game"--At the game lobby, there is a dropdown menu called "Mode", choose your desired mode (1v1 2v2 or 3v3)--Click "Open to Public" if you want a public game2) By joining:--Click "Join game"--Search the list for Nexus Wars with the mode you desire (1v1 2v2 or 3v3)--Note that 4v4/Tug-Of-War catagory will be the most popular and other modes will be far down the popularity list.**Due to the popularity system, other modes will not be as popular, but they exist for those who want to have an inhouse game with friends since it was a frequent request on the forums. Enjoy!

*****CHANGELOG v 1.49 ***** 1/16/11Bug Fixes/Features:-For each player that leaves during countdown in lobby, 1 SCV and 1 Vespene gas will be given to first player of whichever team the leaver is on.-Frenzy now activates at 35 minutes down from 40.-Medivac heal fixed-Odin nuke failing to activate fixed-Some building missing buttons were fixed

Note: Please post any balance changes due to the upgrade change. In theory, infinite upgrades will not have any incredibly drastic impact; the cost of upgrade goes up and the % increase in damage goes down. (For example, zealot damage going from level 0 to 1 increases from 8-10, a 25% increase for only 100 minerals, while damage going from 100 to 102 is only a 2% increase while costing thousands of minerals.)

-Note: These changes are quite drastic; none of the changes however, make any particular unit imbalanced. We implemented this as an attempt to see how the players adjust their strategies with the change in attack power. We will monitor the status of balance. Please post what new strategies open up or close; and which units end up becoming stronger than before. We also suspect this may play a big role in determining the tug-of-war factor of the "deathballs" from each side. Hero hitpoints were increased because heroes that were sent out to the lane simply get crushed too fast, and its not fun losing a hero on a 10 minute cooldown.

*****CHANGELOG v 1.44***** 11/9/10 Features: -Added "Tug of War" game variant. You should now be able to see Nexus Wars if you filter the Tug of War option.

*****CHANGELOG v 1.24***** Bug Fixes/Features: -Changed sweeper scan and chrono boost hotkey to q and w respectively -Fixed chrono boost not working on some buildings -Zeratul now cannot use void prison on the nexus -Nexus now can detect cloaked units very close to it (melee range)

*****CHANGELOG v 1.22***** Bug Fixes: -Fixed supply bug

*****CHANGELOG v1.20***** 8/27/10 Bug Fixes: -Fixed frenzy -Fixed Isonubdrix being able to cross over to the other side

*****CHANGELOG v 1.19 (Very buggy)***** Features: -Isonubdrix leveling up now adds: +.1 movement speed +1 damage -Isonubdrix starting damaged reduced from 7 to 6 -Added chrono boost to nexus for 50 minerals -Buildings now will only have 1 unit training in them at a time so it's easier to cancel production to sync -Auto queue timer is every 10 seconds -Timer added to the top of the screen. It's based on game time so it's a little faster than real time -Supply splitting when a player leaves changed so it splits all supply and assets to the team instead of getting 30 more when someone leaves

*****CHANGELOG v 1.18***** 8/25/10 Bug Fixes/Features: -Isonubdrix now levels up and the exp is how much income you have. Leveling up currently has no functionality but will create design space for the future. Suggestions should be voiced in this thread. -Fixed rally for mutalisk building -Fixed spire and greater spire being treated as the same building

Balance: -Banelings now give 1 bounty if killed, still 0 if they explode at their target -Supply for leavers now always set to 10, while the rest of the team that's still playing still gets 30.

*****CHANGELOG v1.16***** 7/21/10 Bug Fixes/Features: -Units now blink out if they're caged in. -Fixed not being able to rally broodlord

*****CHANGELOG v1.14***** Features/Bug Fixes: -Added new voting mode for income timer in the beginning of the game. 15 seconds or 20 seconds income timer -Added scanner sweep to the nexus. Costs 25 minerals to reveal an area of 15 radius for 13 seconds -Fixed hotkeys in the upgrade building -Added scout speed upgrade to the upgrade building

*****CHANGELOG v 1.13***** 8/19/10 Bug Fixes/Features: -Fixed upgrades for lurker and science vessel -Science vessel - Irridiate only casts on biological units -Team setup is different now. Players 1,2,3,4 are team 1. Players 5,6,7,8 are team 2. (Previously it was player 1,3,5,7 team 1, player 2,4,6,8 team 2). So now, when you join the one with custom and gametype/variant. even though it's 3v5, it'll be top 4 players vs bottom 4 players.

Balance: -Cannons are no longer armored -Ultralisk - Damage from 18 to 15+25 to armored. (same as in ladder games)

*****CHANGELOG v 1.5***** 8/15/10 Bug Fixes/Features: -New terrain -Fixed tanks not showing weak/strong against units in help -Fixes on upgrades for campaign/new units -Photon Cannon has an upgrade to shoot 4 times as fast and has 3000 health for 300 minerals -Fixed heroes cooldown where if you built multiple upgrade and heroes building, each one had it's own cooldown -Fixed kerrigan razor storm dealing damage to allies

*****CHANGELOG v 1.3***** 8/10/10 Bug Fixes/Features: -Fixed some buildings that still had the armored attribute -Added salvage to raven building -When a player leaves, his buildings will be split up between his allies, and each person on the team will get 30 more food supply -Added a new building(100 minerals, no income) that is used to train heros and upgrades -Cost of armor/weapon upgrades are same as in melee, minus the gas -Removed "invulnerable" from the Scout building -Fixed infernal pre-igniter upgrade

*****CHANGELOG V 0.8***** 8/3/10 Bug/Features: -Photon cannon - Cannot be built in the first 3 minutes of the game -Roach - Added upgrade Glial Reconstruction: +.75 speed for 100 minerals -Removed flowers from the road and reduced the amount there are on the map -Auto-set Isonubdrix (SCV) to control group 1 for all players, because I am #1

*****CHANGELOG V 0.7***** 8/2/10 Bug Fixes: -Fixed Banpei pylon tooltip so it doesnt say that it adds supply Balance: -Reduced build time of carriers by 30s to 80s -Reduced build time of ultralisks, battlecruisers, brood lord, colossi by 10s -Changed the attack priority on infested terrans so they will be attacked now, but increased their life from 75 to 100

*****CHANGELOG V 0.6***** 8/1/10 Bug Fixes: -Blink cooldown added back to 1 second to prevent queue blinking to opposing side and nuking nexus -Added supply to firebat (2) and lurker(4)

*****CHANGELOG V 3.16***** 7/17/10 Bug Fixes/Features: - Carrier - Graviton catapult upgrade time fixed to 5 seconds. - Removed the push any button in the loading screen by popular demand Balance: -Carriers - Now have 8 interceptors. -Infestor: -- Infested Terrans- Now last 12 seconds -- Infested Terrans- Have no collision so they do not block -- Infested Terran eggs spawn infested terrans instead of casting fungal growth and the attack priority for the infested terrans is decreased so they are less likely to be attacked --Infested Terrans hatch after 1 second --Energy reduced to 80, infested terrans cost 25 energy, so maximum of 3 infested terrans up at a time.-High Templar - Psionic storm damage reduced from 12 to 10 damage. --Marine - range increased from 4.5 to 4.7 -Reaper: --D8 charge damage reduced from 30 to 12. --Damage to light reduced from 9 to 7 -Dark Templar - Now permanently invisible

*****CHANGELOG V 3.1***** 7/15/10 **Bug Fixes and Features -Storm assassin building can now be repaired -Infestor building can now be repaired -Pylon can now be repaired -Fixed issue where you were unable to build new photon cannons. Max cannons on field is still 2. -Added a minimize button to scoreboard -Increased no build zone areas under the ramps **Balance -Reapers, Marines, Sentry give 1 bounty -Dark Templar- Now will be cloaked for 2 seconds while attacking before starting to fade in/out of invis -Zealot - Build time reduced to 30 seconds -Stalker - Build time reduced to 30 seconds -Sentry - Build time reduced to 30 seconds -Infestor- Now cast infested terrans now instead of fungal growth -Marine - Range reduced from 4.8 to 4.5 -Banpei(Pylon) - Cost reduced to 150 -Max supply lowered from 125 to 90 -Buildings now give 100 mineral bounty

*****CHANGELOG V 2.9***** -High Templar (Storm Assassin): --Now casts psi storm earlier --Will not cast on non-combat (Medivac) and invulnerable (SCV) units --Psi Storm stacks (two storms in the same location will do double damage) -Infestor: --Same changes as above for Fungal Growth -We will be working on some balance changes. Protoss is a bit weak, marines are a bit strong in numbers.

*****CHANGELOG V 2.4***** -After 60 minutes, all units will have their attack damage modified by 300%. ** This is to prevent stalemates where both sides have achieved a critical mass of units that ends up lagging the computer to the point where it is unplayable. Increasing all attack damage may alleviate this issue so that the side with just a small advantage will gain a strong edge in offensive power, and thus, end the game. I’m thinking that 6

I cant remember which version it was that this happened, but one game 2-3 weeks ago I played went for 180 minutes before 3 of the 4 guys from the other team left and the fourth kind of gave up. The problem with those super long games is that you end up with so much money that you can destroy your entire base and rebuild it repeatedly in order to switch builds, or simply to get back after a near loss.

The other issue I had in our marathon game we all discovered the strategy of spamming tons of new buildings in order to disrupt a major push into your base. If your base is nearly destroyed and you have more money than you know what to do with, then you can begin building tons of junk buildings in a line leading away from your base. this spreads out the enemy units and thins their forces enough to be dealt with by your reinforcements.

I have two suggestions:

1. Instead of buffing all player's damage after 60m, make some super expensive buffs that affect all of your units: Like, I pay 10k and get a 25% damage buff to all of my units, then sequentially: 25k for 50%, 50k for 75% etc. Maybe this way the players who make the most money the fastest will do enough damage to end the game.

2. Add a 2 second cooldown to creating new buildings when your current buildings are attacked.

5. Lower cost of Zerg units, to make it balanced with all three races. Zerg die quick but spawn quick, Terran is mid, and Protoss is spawn long but more life.

I'd like to see this as well.

Also, have you considered adding an option to merge the lanes into just one big lane? That way, one person being a "newbie" won't completely screw the other 3 players over when it's 2vs1.5 for some sides.

Could I suggest you limit the number of Heroes either the player or team may posses. I just went through a battle that wouldn't end despite the 300% bonus, until a few players d/c'd due to lag spikes. Even after using all the nukes, both sides just spammed kerrigan and aoe'd the opposing force. By no means game ruining, but it makes a stalemate much more difficult to end.

Don't know if this is a new development or not, but the past two games that I've played have ended in the first 30 seconds because of some sort of exploit that allows one team to teleport their builder over to the opposing team's base and one shot nuke their nexus. Could this be linked to the removal of the teleport cooldown?

Don't know if this is a new development or not, but the past two games that I've played have ended in the first 30 seconds because of some sort of exploit that allows one team to teleport their builder over to the opposing team's base and one shot nuke their nexus. Could this be linked to the removal of the teleport cooldown?

It is, you can queue up blinks to get over to the other side which results in nuking the nexus and/or all of your unit production buildings

So, i was in a game and about 7 minutes and 35 seconds in our nexus blows up and we lose. No creeps attacking or anything. I re-watched the replay 3 times and finally saw the enemy scv show up on our side and nuke our nexus. Apparently without a cooldown you can get your blinks going fast enough to seem as though you've never touched down on the map which negates the function that puts you back at your base. I tested this bug and i was able to do the same (definitely not proud of that, just had to know how it was done.) Please fix this bug ASAP. I, for one, will not be playing again until you patch.